Construction material rates rise in Karachi

KARACHI - Millions of citizens of the financial hub of Pakistan are waiting for slump in real state market to purchase a house, land or apartment.
According to a survey, the construction cost of every type of house has doubled during the year due to price hike of essential building material.
Economic experts say that in the current economic scenario, a part of economic revival depends on investment in housing sector, a significant avenue for banks financing and household investment and a factor in long-term economic growth.
An expert of construction industry, Maaz Liaqat said that due to hike in rates of construction material, the price of an average apartment is Rs 10.75-10.50 million in Karachi Clifton, which was around Rs 10 million few years ago.
Even in this posh area of the city where elite and upper class lives, people have no purchasing power to buy an apartment and they focus on the middle class areas of the city, he added.
Maaz said that labour wages had ncreased, rates of bricks, cement, steel, sand, sanitary fittings, pipes, electric wires and other construction material had also increased besides the cost of land.
Builders of the city are trying to use standardised building construction material in their projects after several incidents of building collapses in the city. Karachi Building Control Authority also takes measures to control these kinds of mishaps and changes bylaws for the building construction, he added.
In real state business, profit margin is going down and to maintain that builders are working on 70pc profit, which was more than 90pc during 2003-04. In this situation, builder in Karachi have no chance to use the low quality material for the construction, he added.